Delphiniums are garden plants belonging to the family Ranunculaceae, and they flower around June to August under natural conditions in the open air.
Delphinium flowers have a variety of colors including blue, white and cream. The major color is blue. Since delphiniums prefer a cool and dry climate, they are cultivated in England and in California, the United States for use as garden flowers or cut flowers. However, the introduction of delphinium cultivation has hardly been successful in the southwestern warm area of Japan where the climate is hot and humid.
Because of their vivid colors, the demand for delphiniums has been greatly increased in recent years. In response to this increase in demand, various new varieties have been bred. However, the new varieties have not necessarily satisfied the demand sufficiently and the breeding of more attractive new varieties is desired.
The present invention has been made to meet such demand. It is the object of the present invention to provide a new and distinct variety of delphinium.
The breeding of the delphinium of the invention was carried out at the present inventor's farm located at 55, 3520, Tokiwa, Ohmachi City, Nagano Pref., Japan and the Applied Plant Research Laboratory of Japan Tobacco Inc. located at Ohaza-Idei 1900, Oyama City, Tochigi Pref., Japan from 1995 through 1997. The delphinium of the present invention occurred as a naturally occurring branch mutation of unknown origin. The present delphinium is a hybrid of Delphinium belladonne and Delphinium elatum.
In 1995, the inventor found among delphinium plants of `Plagu Blue` (unpatented) obtained from cultured tissue a mutant whose sepals assumed a purple color with a dash of vivid blue that was different from the color of sepals in `Plagu Blue` (i.e., a dark blue color with a dash of purple). The axillary buds of this mutant were collected and grown by tissue culture. The resultant young plants were planted in October, 1996. Thereafter, flowering inspection of these plants obtained from cultured tissue was performed in January, 1997 to thereby confirm that their characteristics are stable. Thus, the breeding has been completed.